Legal Help Desk

Back in January, Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the United States Supreme Court in support of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The brief was filed on behalf of 16 national HIV advocacy organizations, and endorsed by more than 130. As our HIV Project Director Scott Schoettes explained, "people living with HIV have been systematically excluded from the health-care insurance and health-care markets."

"For many HIV-positive Americans, and those who advocate on their behalf, these are days of anxious waiting as the Supreme Court ponders President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

This loose-knit community — made up of activists, health professionals and an estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV — has invested high hopes in the Affordable Care Act, anticipating that it could dramatically improve access to lifesaving care and treatment. The act is now in limbo as the high court deliberates on its constitutionality, notably its requirement that most Americans obtain health insurance. A ruling could come in June.

'The HIV treatment community sees the act as a critical step in our fight against the AIDS epidemic,' said Scott Schoettes of Lambda Legal, a national gay-rights advocacy group. 'People have been counting on it, making plans based on its implementation, so for it to be pulled out from under their feet at this point would be a tremendous loss.'"